Chapter 254: Scenery Under the Bridge

Chapter 254: Chapter 254: Scenery Under the Bridge

Zhang Yun hadn’t expected to scare her. He quickly jumped down after her.

This wasn’t the main river that ran past the highway; it was just a small branch. The water was neither deep nor swift, and the drop wasn’t high. A normal adult wouldn’t drown here.

However, Xiuxun had fallen in by accident while carrying two water buckets on a shoulder pole. Before she could even stand up, the buckets filled with water, pinning her shoulders down and rendering her immobile. The panic of falling into the water left her completely flustered.

"Don’t be afraid."

Zhang Yun’s voice rang in her ears, and immediately after, she felt someone wrap their arms around her.

"Ah, who are you? Let me go!"

With water all over her head and face, Xiuxun couldn’t see clearly. Panicking, she shoved him away.

"It’s me, Zhang Yun," he quickly clarified.

Hearing his name, Xiuxun finally calmed down. The last time she fell into the fish pond, it was also Zhang Yun who had pulled her up. Having had this experience before, she didn’t mind his touch as much.

"You just..." Xiuxun felt the weight lift off her shoulders. She wiped the water from her face with one hand while reaching for her bucket with the other.

Zhang Yun reassured her, "It didn’t wash away. I’ve got it."

With her face cleared, she could see in the dimming light that Zhang Yun was right beside her, holding her with one arm and gripping her bucket with the other. Xiuxun breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why did you... call out to me so suddenly? You scared me to death. I thought someone was chasing me..." Xiuxun grumbled softly.

Zhang Yun was about to speak but immediately lowered his voice. "Someone’s coming!"

"Then... what do we do?" Xiuxun panicked again.

Normally, accidentally falling into a small river wasn’t a big deal. If a villager walked by, they could even help pull her up. But Zhang Yun was in the water with her, which made her heart race! Not to mention he was holding her. If someone saw them, how could they possibly explain it?

Feeling her struggle to push him away, Zhang Yun hugged her a little tighter. "Don’t speak. Let’s wait for them to pass!"

Holding Xiuxun, he waded a few steps through the water until they were under the wooden bridge. With the planks shielding them from above, anyone just passing by wouldn’t notice them as long as they didn’t come down to the riverbank to wash something.

If the buckets washed away, they would be discovered!

She hurriedly pointed, but the sky was already growing dark, and it was even darker under the wooden bridge. Xiuxun quickly leaned in close to Zhang Yun’s ear. "Hold onto the buckets tightly. Don’t let them wash away!"

Losing a pair of buckets wasn’t a huge deal, but if they suddenly floated out from under the bridge, it would make passersby suspicious.

"Don’t worry. I’ve got them," Zhang Yun whispered back into her ear.

"Ah, my fish..."

"Your fish... what fish?" Xiuxun’s voice trembled slightly, feeling as if Zhang Yun was hinting at something else.

"I just caught two fish to take home. I saw you from behind and wanted to come over and give you one. I didn’t expect to scare you."

To support her and grab the buckets just now, he couldn’t spare a hand for his catch. The two fish had already swum happily downstream. Xiuxun flushed. He was talking about actual fish. Luckily she hadn’t overreacted, or she would have died of embarrassment.

At this moment, they heard voices approaching. Xiuxun was a little surprised. Because of her panic, all she had heard earlier was the SPLASH of the water. She hadn’t expected Zhang Yun to hear people coming from so far away. Thank goodness. Otherwise, they would have run right into the villagers the moment they climbed up. If they both came up dripping wet, no one would believe any explanation they gave!

As footsteps crossed the wooden planks above them, the sound was exceptionally clear. Xiuxun couldn’t help but draw a little closer to him, terrified of being discovered.

After waiting a moment, she whispered, "I think they’ve gone far away?"

The sky outside had grown even darker.

"There’s still someone else."

Xiuxun listened carefully but couldn’t hear anyone talking. She began to suspect Zhang Yun was just putting on an act. However, since he had heard them accurately before, he was probably right this time too.

"You can let go of me now. I’m fine."

She had been in a panic earlier, but after standing there for a long time, she had steadied herself. Even in the deeper middle section, the water only reached her thighs, and the slow current wasn’t strong enough to wash her away.

"I’d better keep holding you. We don’t want you falling over."

Xiuxun hesitated. Her clothes were wet from her frantic flailing when she fell in. If she fell over completely, she would be drenched to the bone. Besides, despite her embarrassment, holding onto Zhang Yun in the dark under the bridge actually gave her a greater sense of security.

A short while later, Xiuxun heard footsteps approaching.

"How are you so amazing?" she couldn’t help but marvel in surprise. They must have been tens of meters away earlier.

Zhang Yun chuckled lightly. "I do alright. I’m just a bit more capable than most in every aspect."

Xiuxun was speechless.

At that moment, they heard the people approaching the bridgehead talking. From the sound of it, they were heading down to the riverbank to wash vegetables!

Xiuxun gasped in shock. Standing in the middle of the river, they were invisible to anyone crossing the wooden bridge, but if someone came down to wash vegetables, they would be seen from the side.

"What do we do?" She grabbed Zhang Yun nervously.

Xiuxun’s first instinct was to take a deep breath and duck underwater. Zhang Yun considered this as well, but it hadn’t come to that yet. An average person who could hold their breath for a minute already had good lung capacity. Xiuxun definitely wouldn’t last that long. Moreover, being submerged made holding one’s breath much harder than usual. One cough, and their cover would be blown.

He couldn’t just pass air to her underwater like in a TV show, could he? Even if he were capable, it was too difficult for a normal person to exchange air entirely mouth-to-mouth without inhaling water.

"It’s fine."

Hearing the women walk down the bank beside them, Zhang Yun firmly wrapped his arm around her and quickly backed toward the shore, pressing his body directly against the weeds on the bank. Gripping the shoulder pole and hooking the buckets securely with one hand, he pulled Xiuxun tight against his chest with the other.

Flustered, Xiuxun glanced left and right. In the dim light, they seemed to blend right into the tall grass along the bank.

"Won’t we be discovered like this...? They can see us," she whispered into his ear, her voice trembling slightly.

"Don’t worry! Your eyes have just adjusted to the darkness under the bridge. To them, looking over here, it’s pitch black. As long as they don’t come closer and we don’t make a sound, they won’t spot us."

Not daring to look around, Xiuxun kept her eyes locked on him as he spoke. Two village women had already reached the riverbank and were rinsing their freshly picked vegetables in the water.

"Why did you harvest so much okra? Oh! You’re trying to give your husband a boost, aren’t you? I hear the slippery slime in okra is really good for the kidneys. Tsk, tsk, did you pick some chives too?"

"Boost my ass! He complains about being tired every day. He can’t even get it up."

"Well, it’s the busy farming season. He has to plow and plant the fields during the day, and when he gets home at night, he has to plow and plant your field. How could he not be tired? Hahahaha! There are only exhausted oxen, no ruined fields!"

"Look at how excited you are. Seems like you’re living a very nourished life. Can your family’s ox still plow?"

"Haha, jealous much? I’m not telling..."

The situation was already awkward enough for Zhang Yun and Xiuxun. It would have been one thing to just overhear some neighborhood gossip, but under the cover of darkness with no one else around, the two women had let loose over a batch of okra. As experienced wives sharing and complaining, their explicit chatter instantly left Xiuxun blushing up to her ears...